DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane or 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s that was once widely used to control insects on agricultural crops and insects that carry diseases like malaria and typhus. In 1972, EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT based on its adverse environmental effects, such as those to wildlife, as well as its potential human health risks.
Reference Definition by Wikipedia: Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a colourless, crystalline, tasteless, and almost odourless organochlorine known for its insecticidal properties and environmental impacts. First synthesized in 1874, DDT’s insecticidal action was discovered by the Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller in 1939. It was used in the second half of World War II to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. After the war, DDT was also used as an agricultural insecticide and its production and use duly increased. Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods” in 1948.
